The past months have been a bit boring around here for budgets, but I feel I made up for it this month! July was definitely the month of sales for me. You guys know I almost always never buy something at full price, and this month was definitely no exception. Between the never ending sales that Loft has (which is why I never buy anything from there unless it is at least 40% off!) and the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, I ordered quite a few things, returned quite a few things, and kept quite a bit too! Favorites of the month definitely include the mustard yellow blouse and the shirt dress (which is currently at the tailor's to have the sides slimmed down), both of which I know will be huge staples in the next coming months. I'm excited for it to cool down in a few months so I can get some wear out of that deliciously soft cashmere sweater.

I know I mentioned that I also ordered the Tory Burch riding boots during the NSale, and they should be here any day! I've been putting a bit of money away for the past few months to buy myself something as a present for passing the boards (I was being optimistic!), and now that we got our scores back, I'm using that money plus the left over money from this quarter to pay for them (if they work out, which hopefully they do!). I do something like this about once a year to celebrate a big moment in my life - for example, my Michael Kors watch was something I bought myself in celebration of finishing the first year of medical school, and now this would be for passing my last exam of school. I've always said I like the fancier things in life, but I try very hard to make financially smarter choices too, so I save up for big presents like this for months/years. I've actually been saving up for my own graduation present for over three years now!

As always, I also want to mention the pieces I received from companies this month. I already mentioned my 7 for all Mankind jeans that I received from Fitcode in my recent review post. I also used shopping credits from Shopbop to purchase a pair of Rag & Bone shorts. Lastly, I received this gorgeous leather purse from Torregrossa. I think it's only fair to tell you guys what I added to my closet for free while mentioning what I paid for as well!Okay, your turn! As always, please link back to this post so your readers can find other budgeting bloggers :)